High cost of the NRA's extremism

1/15/13 7:12 PM EST

Wayne LaPierre can’t say we didn’t warn him.

Several weeks ago, I spoke on "Morning Joe" about how the tragedy at Newtown changed everything. On the set that morning and on many occasions since Dec. 14, we have warned that the extreme faction of the NRA will either face political reality or face political disaster.

As a longtime supporter of the Second Amendment, I had hoped their executives and lobbyists would not take an absolutist position on the issue since that would ultimately set back the cause of gun rights. Unfortunately, Mr. LaPierre chose to respond as if it were 1994.

As we predicted, his extreme position has now cost NRA leaders political support. A new ABC News/Washington Post shows that for the first time in years, a majority of Americans now support a ban on certain types of assault weapons. An overwhelming majority back universal background checks, a national database to track gun sales, and the banning of high-capacity magazines.

More to the point of our earlier warning, the NRA’s own approval rating has plummeted since LaPierre’s tone-deaf news conference. It is hard to imagine how the NRA's worst enemy could have done more damage to the organization than the out-of-touch leader is doing himself.

The NRA needs to self-correct before they do more damage to their cause.